Public Sociology and the Future: the Possible, the Probable, and the Preferable*

As a preface to his appeal for a public sociology, Michael Burawoy (2005: 4) quotes a passage by Walter Benjamin that pictures the “angel of history” with his face turned toward the past, where he sees a catastrophe that keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage. Although the angel would like to stay and make whole what has been smashed, he is caught in a violent storm that “irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward.” In this chapter, I ask you to imagine something different, not an angel but ordinary men and women. They are standing with their faces turned toward the future. They remember history, but they are focusing their thoughts on what is coming. Although they see potential catastrophes, they also see opportunities for a better world in which all people will have a good chance of living long lives of freedom and well-being. Like the angel of history, they, too, are irresistibly propelled into the future, but, using foresight, they navigate through time, avoiding many of the catastrophes and seizing the opportunities.